With the proliferation of travel routes and travel options, more people than ever before are travelling long distances. Typically, such travellers carry a suitcase (also called a trolley case or traveller's case) to hold personal items such as clothing, documents, and other sundries. While travelling there are periods during which it is desirable to sit down, e.g., at an airport or train station, but no convenient seat is available. In view of this inconvenience, various mechanisms for combining a suitcase and a seat have been proposed.
For instance, International Patent Publication Nos. WO03/099056 and WO98/03096 describe suitcases with foldable chairs that can be unfolded when a user desires to sit. Unfortunately, these foldable chairs are relatively complex and expensive to manufacture, and they are also fairly bulky and cumbersome when in use. German Patent No. DE4221215 more simply proposes to affix a seat having a smooth sitting surface onto the top surface of a suitcase. The seat is formed from a separate moulded part that is riveted and/or screwed to the suitcase. However, the seat in DE4221215 is likely to undesirably detract from the aesthetic look, quality and design of the suit case, and it may further impair the suitcase's ability to fit into constrained spaces like luggage racks and/or to comply with carry-on luggage size restriction guides.
In a similar vein, solutions for altering a suitcase to act as a tram or stroller for a child have also been proposed. For example, International Patent Publication No. WO99/60882 discloses a travel case mounted on a collapsible trolley that includes a seat for seating an infant. The seat may include a vertical wall support of flexible sheet material for supporting the infant, the support having a pair of openings through which the legs of the infant can pass. This seat support is suspended from an inverted U-shaped safety bar. A backrest of stiff, apertured sheet material is fixed to and extends between two longitudinal members that are slidably displaceable (via a handle) along the back of the case. In a first embodiment of WO99/60882, no separate seat rest or platform other than the case's top surface is provided to support the rear end of the infant. This may degrade the structural reliability of the case and/or provide insufficient support, particularly if a heavier load such as an adult or larger child would occupy the seat. Furthermore, the use of a top suitcase surface as a seat may be uncomfortable for a user as that surface typically lies above parts of the suitcase frame and/or is not entirely flat.
In a second embodiment of WO99/60882, the upper surface of the case has a flat surface area permanently formed on it to provide added support for a sitting infant. However, again, such a permanently affixed seat surface may undesirably detract from the aesthetic look, quality and design of the suit case. Furthermore, as already indicated, such a permanently affixed seat surface (as well as other bulky elements, such as additional wheels, that protrude from the case) may impair the case's ability to fit into constrained spaces like luggage racks as well as the case's ability to comply with carry-on luggage size restriction guides.
European Published Patent Application No. EP1402797A discloses a wheeled suitcase with a fold-away seat (suitable for receiving a small child) placed in a fixed or removable manner on the top surface of the suitcase. The telescopic shaft or shafts of the suitcase can provide a means of support for the back of the child or, alternatively, a handle for the child to hold on to. The seat comprises a seat base part that rests on the top wall of the suitcase and at least one backrest part that is hinged to the seat base and that can be vertically positioned for use. When the seat is in use the back rest part lies against, and may be temporarily fixed to, the telescopic shafts that can be extended from the frame of the suitcase via a retractable handle. When the seat is not in use, the back rest part is folded down and both the seat base and back rest parts remain resting on the top wall of the suitcase. Alternatively, the assembly of the seat base and back rest parts can be rotated on the hinges and placed against the lowered telescopic shafts. Again, however, the seat base and back rest parts in EP1402797A undesirably detract from the aesthetic features and also significantly impair the case's ability to fit into constrained or restricted spaces.
Consequently, there is clearly a need for a suitcase with a seat that can provide sufficient support for an adult while not significantly detracting from the compactness or the aesthetic appearance of the suitcase when the seat is not in use.